X2

• Also marketed with the subtitle X-Men United and known internationally as X-Men 2
• Directed by Bryan Singer
• April 24, 2003 (London) / May 2, 2003 (US)
• Based on X-Men created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

The X-Men must team up with the Brotherhood of Mutants to stop a genocidal soldier seeking to kill all mutants.

X2 famously opens with the first live action appearance of Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) in a demonstration of his powers very much in line in how they might be used in the comics at the time. Cumming struck me as perhaps one of the best casting choices in the series. Not only for his talent but the man looks like a fully human version of Kurt Wagner.

Director Bryan Singer and pals grow a few storylines begun in X-Men while adding in others. What it builds on is the Scott/Jean/Logan triangle-a core of the comics then. In the last film Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) replaced the deceased Senator Kelly (Bruce Davison). Here she continues the ruse though few seem to question how a staunch bigot became a staunch defender. Kelly is charming with Romijn-Stamos doing a serpentine nature to Mystique.

This continues mutants being the focus of bigotry while upping the stakes with a plot involving genocide and a deranged commander with an axe to grind against Xavier (Patrick Stewart). Even though powerless himself, Colonel William Stryker (Brian Cox) is a formidable villain. Cox gives a big enough personality and ambition to a character that without superhuman abilities still poses a significant threat.

It is all through brains. Stryker has all the bases covered and is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed which includes using his own son Jason (Michael Reid MacKay) who is a mutant. It also shows just how terrible a person Stryker is given the hatchet job of surgery done on the boy in the name of vengeance though Stryker is angry over more than Xavier unable to ‘cure’ Jason’s mutation. He is a man in the throws of a grief driven rage over the suicide of his wife due to Jason’s power.

After watching the movie, I thought about their connection. Xavier knew who and what Stryker was when he took the boy into the school and held no illusions after he left so why not just tweak Stryker’s memory? Not saying turn the guy pro-mutant or psychically lobotomize him into a vegetable but remove a few key details so this highly placed government agent will not return with the full backing of the Federal government and military hardware. Seems like a serious “Oops!”

Like before X2 is much more character driven than driven by a series of cool scenes like many superhero flicks today. Scenes of power are judiciously used keeping them from getting old. Thus whenever to get an optic blast or Magneto (Ian McKellen) manipulating metal it is cool AND exciting. It is not stale by the climax where the movie dumps the most money being exciting.

I think the story gets into other things owing a bit to Singer. One line that jumped out at me is said when the survivors of the assault are on the run. They have made it Bobby Drake/Iceman’s (Shawn Ashmore) parents house where he reveals to them his ability. Bobby’s mother asks, “Have you ever tried not being a mutant?” Replace ‘mutant’ with ‘gay’ and it gets relevant.

Also new to live-action X-Men is Kelly Hu as Yuriko Oyama/Deathstrike though she is only addressed as ‘Yuriko’. They got very close to the comics on several levels but deviated vastly in others. She was more of an Easter Egg than a character. In general though most of the presentations hewed very close to print of the era in a way not seen today. The lore was respected.

We get an excellent fight involving Wolverine and Deathstrike. It’s the type of knock out, drag out fight we should have gotten with Sabretooth in the last film though that iteration of the character did not have a lot in common with the lore.

There are moments that convey no return. Bobby can never really go back to his old life. Visiting home while on the run tells the character and the audience he has embarked on a path that cuts him off from his old life. It gets very understandable even set in extraordinary circumstances.

Much like the last one something is always happening. Characters are being developed as the script relies on more on dialogue than cool scenes and special effects. Actions proceed from the characters and not as necessitated to get to the next act.

This is the movie that up to the stakes without getting ridiculous. I can’t remember if this was mentioned in X-Men, but in the comics as I recall mutant brain waves were different than human brain waves which is part of the way Cerebro functions. This uses that bit of lore as the main threat with Stryker plotting genocide on a global scale in a very time efficient manner. 

In a clear set up for another movie Jean Grey is having some problems with her powers. It barely plays into the main story by never so ill-fitting you become annoyed. Everybody watching knew before the end 20^th Century Fox wanted to do Dark Phoenix. The storyline as it happened in the comics was much different and probably a bit outside of the limitations of the time.

The introduction of Pyro (Aaron Stanford) was my biggest issue. In the comics he is Australian. Here he is a cranky American teenager. Also he was never an X-Men. He just cannot show up and be working for Magneto. His arc added little.

Mystique is a little bit too much of a flunky. In the comics, she’s a much more independent character as compared to here. I’m not saying she must be off on her own, but she needed to speak more openly with Magneto rather than hushed whispers and then giggling over Rogue’s hair that she got.

Like all good movies Magneto and Charles present two distinct philosophies on what to do. Charles is a pragmatic optimist. Magneto, even when he’s on your side, is not always completely on your side. In the climax, despite him being friends with Charles, he is still willing to kill his friend if it means mutant superiority. Ouch!

X2: X-Men United is a great movie. It’s dramatic and exciting even with its flaws. Singer I think knocked it out of the park again.